Yahoo Beats Earnings Estimates but Display Ad Revenue Drops 5%

Yahoo had a strong fourth quarter, but its display advertising business is heading in the wrong direction.

Yahoo reported earnings per share of $0.32 on revenue of $1.22 billion for the December quarter, beating Wall Street's estimates of an EPS of $0.28 on revenue of $1.21 billion. That beat was enough to send Yahoo's stock price up by as much as 5% in after-hours trading.

However, the earnings report showed some troubling signs for the company's advertising business. Yahoo's display ad revenue minus traffic acquisition costs was $520 million, a 5% decline from the same quarter in 2011. Likewise, the number of ads Yahoo sold declined by a whopping 10% year-over-year.

Some of this…
Continue reading...

More About: marissa mayer, Yahoo